Show Me Your Christmas Spirit

Welcome to "Christmas Missouri Style." There seem to be so many Christmasy activities in St. Charles, Mo., it’s hard to know where to begin describing them. But shopping is always a good starting place. As shoppers browse up and down the cobblestone streets of St. Charles, hundreds of Christmas lights illuminate their way while strolling carolers serenade.

Any shopper lucky enough to be in downtown St. Charles at 8:45 p.m. any Wednesday, Friday or Saturday during the holiday season is greeted by the town’s international Christmas characters and carolers parading down South Main Street holding old-fashioned lanterns as they sing Christmas Carols.

Among the Christmas characters lending authenticity to the St. Charles Christmas are Victorian Santa, Civil War Santa, Kris Kringle, St. Nicholas, Frontier Santa and Father Christmas, to name but a few.

There are carriage rides, chestnuts roasting, and — this year for the first time — the Singing Sleighbell Dinner, which features a musical tribute to the movie White Christmas performed while diners eat at a popular local restaurant.

On opening day, as well as every Saturday and Sunday during the season, there is a Santa Parade led by the Lewis and Clark Fife and Drum Corp — a nod, of course, to explorers Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, who spent time in St. Charles in 1804 before embarking on their exploration of the Louisiana Territory.

Heck, even Scrooge might enjoy Christmas in St. Charles, a town of 62,000 just northwest of St. Louis on the Missouri River.